Vietnam activist gets 20 years for 'inciting protests'

An outspoken activist in Vietnam was jailed for 20 years Thursday for allegedly calling for an election boycott and inciting environmental protests in the one-party state that has little tolerance for dissent. The communist country is notorious for jailing its critics but the harsh sentence was the heaviest in years as a hardline administration in charge since 2016 intensifies its crackdown against activists. Le Dinh Luong was convicted for "attempting to overthrow the state" in a half-day trial against the 52-year-old who appeared gaunt and grey-haired in court in central Nghe An province.